Armenian riot police

YEREVAN, July 6. /TASS/. Armenia’s police have unblocked the barricades of garbage bins on the Marshal Baghramyan Avenue, in downtown Yerevan, which were set up by protesters against electricity price rise more than ten days ago.

Police used special pincers to cut the wires by which the protesters tied the waste containers with each other. The representatives of the Lebanese company Sanitek that owns the bins are also at the scene.

The law enforcers earlier gathered to form a "human wall" in front of the barricades on the avenue.

The protests erupted after the state regulatory commission had agreed to raise public electricity tariffs by 16% from August 1. This was announced at a meeting on June 17 upon the request of national electricity company Electric Networks of Armenia.

The same day the protest began in downtown Yerevan. Similar protests were held in other major cities in Armenia on June 19. Police used force during the dispersal of the protest on June 23.